Digital Marketing Blog | Econsultancy

IMW 2013 Econsultancy Hangout: Measurement, analytics, and attribution: part two

On Tuesday, I posted a first half summary of the Econsultancy Hangout I participated in with Jim Sterne and Tom Cunniff (moderated by Econsultancy’s Stefan Tornquist) on Measurement, Analytics, and Attribution.

Rather than summarize the entire second half of the Hangout, I wanted to focus part two on a great discussion we had on changing incentive structures to create an organizational culture of integrated digital marketing and attribution.

by Jon Baron 17 May 2013 16:16pm 1 comment

Announcing The Digitals awards shortlist

So, after reading through a whopping 850+ entries, we have decided upon a shortlist of 156 for our Digitals Awards.

All entries were judged during the first phase by Econsultancy's internal staff then sent to our external judges, comprised of some of the finest minds in digtal marketing and ecommerce.

The judges work at firms such as House of Fraser, John Lewis, Poke, Santander, LBi. BSkyB, Samsung and more (You can see the full list here).

There have been some really fantastic things going on in digital in the past year or so, and we believe that the shortlist represents real innovation and best practice in our industry.

Well done to all who have been shortlisted, and commiserations to the others who just missed out (some by very narrow margins).

The winners will be announced at our Awards night on June 27...

by Graham Charlton 09 May 2013 11:34am 3 comments

Loyal customers are key to online growth

Consumers can buy almost anything online from groceries to holidays, gadgets to clothing, even cars.

Ecommerce today is exciting, innovative, and profitable: last year U.S. shoppers made internet history when Cyber Monday sales topped a record-breaking $1.5bn in online sales.

According to comScore, it was the biggest spending day in U.S. ecommerce history.

But one of the cornerstones of retail, be it online or in physical stores, has always been turning one-time shoppers into regular customers. What's the best way to do that?

by Bernard Luthi 30 April 2013 15:51pm 3 comments

Performance marketing in the UK: three 2013 observations

UK affiliate marketing has gone a long way since its inception. It has become more mainstream, and altogether more complex.

And regardless of all the challenges, it now offers (both advertisers and publishers) more opportunities than ever.

by Geno Prussakov 30 April 2013 09:08am 0 comments

Is it time to review the small print in your affiliate network relationships?

Successful ecommerce thrives on working with the the best business partners that ensure you stay one step ahead of your competitors, but over the last decade things have become pretty stagnant in the affiliate channel when it comes to service provider choice.

Large brands tend to review their affiliate network provider every two to three years and differentiation between service providers has become harder to see.

A worrying trend has arrived driven by a lack of innovation. In order to lock in market share contracts have been increasing and the small print surrounding notice periods has been growing.

by Sean Sewell 26 April 2013 11:12am 1 comment

Are you getting personal with your customers?

M&S Virtual Makeover Counter Content is king. This phrase might have been around a long time, but it’s still applicable to marketing. Of course, nowadays it’s only truly valid if the content is personalised.

Otherwise, the message just won’t get through to your audience.

As technology progresses and new digital channels are adopted, targeting becomes more sophisticated, which makes personalisation even more critical.

by Robert Durkin 24 April 2013 16:43pm 0 comments

Making digital and traditional marketing work together

Even though it is impossible to have a conversation today with a CMO or other marketing leader that doesn’t address digital strategies and tactics, it is easy to forget that the term “digital marketing” did not even exist 10-15 years ago.

In the rush to drive likes and tweets, pins and favorites, ratings and reviews, marketers often overlook traditional tactics, which are still an effective way to motivate desired behaviors among consumers.

And as the land grab to gain digital mindshare continues to pick up steam, it is becoming ever more important to differentiate your brand by offering compelling solutions to consumers across all channels -- both digital and traditional.

by Matthew Kates 17 April 2013 16:01pm 2 comments

Making the most of mobile over the holiday period

With mobile commerce continuing to gather pace through the performance channel, it has been interesting to look back across the past few weeks to analyse the role mobile played over the Easter bank holiday.

With our March stats indicating that traffic through mobile devices reached 21.1% while sales were at 14.2%, it was interesting to see the impact of a long weekend on mobile usage.

We have traditionally seen that consumers turn to mobile devices at weekends. This is not particularly surprising when we consider that office workers step away from their desktops and instead use mobile devices to access the internet.

by Matt Swan 17 April 2013 13:59pm 1 comment

Q&A: Matthew Wood on affiliate marketing challenges & opportunities

Matthew Wood

In May of 2013 Affiliate Management Days is coming to Europe. The inaugural conference in London is going to be opened by the already-legendary Matthew Wood.

By way of preview, I have sat down with Matthew to ask him a few questions about the current state and future of affiliate marketing.

Matthew has over 15 years of experience in affiliate marketing. He is the founder of a4u and a4uexpo, and an acknowledged thought leader and speaker within the sector.

by Geno Prussakov 12 April 2013 11:11am 4 comments

What’s really challenging the online performance marketing industry?

So we’ve proved online performance marketing is big, but what’s next?

The headlines attached by the IAB and PwC to the ground-breaking study into Online Performance Marketing say it all: 'The UK's "hidden" £814m online economy'.

The report has provided fantastic ammunition for everyone involved in affiliate marketing and lead generation, whether talking from the network perspective, publisher or even client side, to point to the enormous value that OPM delivers.

We can see where the 12% average growth per year over the last five years has come from and where the potential for future growth might be. Financial services accounts for 45% of total spend retail 20%, media and telecoms at around 10% and travel and leisure at 9%.

Most large brands in the UK are involved in affiliate marketing and the study also signalled continued rapid growth with an average increase in investment of 25% this year.

by Florian Gramshammer 13 March 2013 10:12am 1 comment